AP PhotoMike Quade managed the West Michigan Whitecaps for one season and will make his major league debut tonight against Washington.

A former West Michigan Whitecaps manager is getting a shot as a big league manager.

Mike Quade, who guided the Whitecaps to the franchise’s first Midwest
League championship in 1996, was named interim manager Sunday of the
Chicago Cubs for the remainder of the season.

Quade replaces Lou Piniella, who stepped down Sunday after nearly four seasons due to family issues. Piniella had planned to retire at season's end.

Quade, 53, will manage the team beginning Monday when the Cubs begin a three-game series in Washington.

West Michigan vice president Jim Jarecki and president Scott Lane recently attended a Cubs game and briefly chatted with Quade.

“It’s
great to see him get this opportunity after so many years and I’m
really excited for him,” Jarecki said. “He has the interim tag on him
right now, but he’s going to be considered, and it’s great for him from a
baseball standpoint.

“There are a lot of guys like him who have done
the path (in the minor leagues) and never got this chance. He’s a
Chicago guy, and it’s an interesting story. We’ll see what happens.”

At
West Michigan, Quade took over for Jim Colburn after the 1995 season
and led the Whitecaps to a 77-61 record in his only season with the
club.

West Michigan, which was an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics at the time, went 7-2 in the postseason.

The Whitecaps defeated Lansing and Rockford before beating Wisconsin 3-1 in the best-of-five championship series.

“He’s
an intense and fiery baseball guy,” Jarecki said. “He was even-keeled,
but you knew he was in charge. He was very personable and dedicated to
his job -- he knows the game inside and out.

“If anyone is going to take a run at this with six weeks to go it’s going to be him.”

Quade
has 17 years and 2,378 games of experience as a manager at the minor
league level and seven years of coaching experience at the major league
level.

He is in his eighth season in the Cubs organization. He has
been on Pinella’s staff as a third base coach and outfield coach since
2007.

Quade spent five seasons as an outfielder in the Pittsburgh
Pirates minor league system (1979-82) before retiring and joining the
coaching ranks.